A new find over the week end, just lovely and red and rustic. I find the old dark beams in our cottage need a strong colour to compete with them; Brian favours sludgy colours but I've been managing to sneak in this accent colour over the years and now he's got used to it ( it's sometimes tricky having a designer partner who has their very own ideas on the decor! )

teeny weeny summer fairies

Can't leave this post without some actual fairies on it. These little ladies are 4cm high.

summery soup

This was our favourite first course of the holiday and like most of the best things it was really simple (and very refreshing.) I've managed to recreate it since getting back home and though 'simple' a bit of a fiddle but not overly so. For two you need about 500g of really flavoursome tomatoes which you skin ( fiddly ) and then de-seed ( fiddly. ) Put the seeds in a sieve as you scoop them out to keep the juices and then give them a good push down with a wooden spoon to extract every last bit of flavour ( I'm a Cancerian and can't stand waste ! ) Liquidise the flesh and juice together till smooth and then season with salt and pepper and chill in the coldest part of the fridge. When ready to eat, float some good mozzerella 'petals'on top. Drizzle with olive oil and scatter with fresh marjoram or basil. I added an ice cube too as you want it REALLY cold ... yum.

When we came back to our room after dinner on the first evening we were greeted with these rose petals on the bathroom
mat, and petals strewn on top of a waiting hot bubble bath - ooh, how romantic !

sunshine

Thought this blog could be looking a bit more summery - this photo was taken at the hotel we have just come back from on our honeymoon at Praiano on the Amalfi coast in Italy. It is called Casa Angelina and very lovely it was too ( very white and modern which is unusual in that area.) The Mediterranean sun just streamed through these glass sculptures that were dotted around the place.